7 Answers
7

Note that thefemmedm's answer indicates a spot in the book where you can look this up directly.

D&D3.5 was first published in July, 2003. Anything published by Wizards of the Coast after that date will almost certainly be for 3.5. Anything published before that date will certainly be for 3.0.

Except... Some books published close to the release of 3.5 (Book of Vile Darkness, Savage Species, a couple FR books) were published in a weird "3.25" state, using only some of the rules from the upcoming 3.5 (which had not yet been finalized).

Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Products from Wizards of the Coast in Order of Publication

The following presented in year/month order for easier sorting. Products released in the same month are presented alphabetically. Parenthetical references are official abbreviations gleaned Wizards of the Coast's indices; some products lack abbreviations. Even the abbreviations are italicized lest someone confuse Champions of Ruin with Challenge Rating, for instance. Wizards of the Coast makes available official errata. Starting with The Speaker in Dreams, Wizards of the Coast made available for many products online-only Web enhancements. Although they bear the official Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition logo and are officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast, I've excluded from this list Kenzer and Company's Kalamar products.

Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition

Dragon #275-308, Dragon Annual #5 and #6, and Dungeon #81-99 present Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition content. Dragon #299 and Dungeon #94 see Paizo publishing the magazines under license from Wizards of the Coast. Paizo published no Dragon Annuals.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Magic of Faerûn receive major updates and Lords of Darkness, Faiths and Pantheons, Silver Marches, City of the Spider Queen, Races of Faerûn, and Unapproachable East receive minor updates to Dungeons and Dragons 3.5via the Player's Guide to Faerûn (5).

Dungeons and Dragons 3.5

Dragon #309 and Dungeon #100 present Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 content. Dragon #359 and Dungeon #150 are the last Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 issues and the last published by Paizo after Wizards of the Coast doesn't renew Paizo's magazine licenses (see Wizards of the Coast's announcement and Paizo's announcement).

2003/06 Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG)

2003/07 Monster Manual (MM)

2003/07 Player's Handbook (PH)

2003/08 Dragonlance Campaign Setting1 (DCS)

2003/08 Dungeon Master's Screen

2003/09 Miniatures Handbook (MH)

2003/10 Book of Exalted Deeds (BE)

2003/10 Underdark (Und)

2003/11 Draconomicon (Dr)

2003/12 Complete Warrior (CW)

2004/01 Deluxe Character Sheets

2004/01 Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen

2004/02 Unearthed Arcana (UA)

2004/03 Player's Guide to Faerûn (PG)

2004/04 Expanded Psionics Handbook (XPH)

2004/04 Map Folio I

2004/05 Complete Divine (CD)

2004/06 Eberron Campaign Setting (ECS)

2004/07 Planar Handbook (PlH)

2004/07 Serpent Kingdoms (SK)

2004/07 Shadows of the Last War (SL)

2004/08 Map Folio II

2004/08 Races of Stone (RS)

2004/09 Frostburn (Fr)

2004/09 Monster Manual III (MM3)

2004/10 Libris Mortis (LM)

2004/10 Dungeon Master's Guide (special edition) (DMG)

2004/10 Player's Handbook (special edition) (PH)

2004/10 Monster Manual (special edition) (MM)

2004/10 Shining South (ShS)

2004/10 Whispers of the Vampire's Blade (WB)

2004/11 Complete Arcane (CAr)

2004/11 Sharn: City of Towers (Sh)

2004/12 Races of Destiny (RD)

2004/12 Map Folio 3-D

2005/01 Complete Adventurer (CAd)

2005/01 Grasp of the Emerald Claw (GC)

2005/02 Lost Empires of Faerûn (LE)

2005/02 Races of the Wild (RW)

2005/03 Sandstorm (Sa)

2005/04 Lords of Madness (LoM)

2005/04 Races of Eberron (RE)

2005/05 Champions of Ruin (CR)

2005/05 Heroes of Battle (HB)

2005/06 City of Splendors: Waterdeep (CSW)

2005/06 Dungeon Master's Guide II (DMG2)

2005/07 Eberron Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen

2005/07 Five Nations (FN)

2005/07 Weapons of Legacy (WL)

2005/08 Eberron Player Character Sheets

2005/08 Explorer's Handbook (EH)

2005/08 Stormwrack (Sto)

2005/09 Fantastic Locations: Fane of the Drow (FLFD)

2005/09 Magic of Incarnum (MoI)

2005/09 Sons of Gruumsh (SG)

2005/10 Dragon Compendium Volume 12

2005/10 Heroes of Horror (HH)

2005/10 Magic of Eberron (MoE)

2005/11 Champions of Valor (CV)

2005/11 Fantastic Locations: Hellspike Prison (FLHP)

2005/12 Spell Compendium (SpC)

2006/01 Player's Guide to Eberron (PE)

2006/01 Races of the Dragon (RDr)

2006/02 Red Hand of Doom (RH)

2006/03 Power of Faerûn (PF)

2006/03 Tome of Magic (TM)

2006/04 Complete Psionic (CP)

2006/04 Fantastic Locations: Fields of Ruin (FLFR)

2006/04 Voyage of the Golden Dragon (VGD)

2006/05 Player's Handbook II (PH2)

2006/06 Fiendish Codex I (FC1)

2006/06 Mysteries of the Moonsea (Mys)

2006/07 Fantastic Locations: Dragondown Grotto

2006/07 Monster Manual IV (MM4)

2006/07 Secrets of Xen'drik (SX)

2006/08 Dragons of Faerûn (DrF)

2006/08 Tome of Battle (ToB)

2006/09 Dragon Magic (DM)

2006/09 Faiths of Eberron (FE)

2006/09 Twilight Tomb

2006/10 Complete Mage (CM)

2006/10 Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (Rav)

2006/11 Cityscape (Ci)

2006/11 Dragonmarked (Dra)

2006/11 Scourge of the Howling Horde

2006/12 Animated Series Handbook3

2006/12 Fantastic Locations: The Frostfell Rift

2006/12 Fiendish Codex II (FC2)

2006/12 Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (ShG)

2007/01 Complete Scoundrel (CS)

2007/02 Barrow of the Forgotten King (BFK)

2007/02 Dungeonscape (Du)

2007/02 Secrets of Sarlona (SoS)

2007/03 Magic Item Compendium (MIC)

2007/03 Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave (Co)

2007/04 Eyes of the Lich Queen (ELQ)

2007/04 Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (EDP)

2007/04 Fantastic Locations: City in Peril (CiP)

2007/05 Complete Champion (CC)

2007/05 Drow of the Underdark (DrU)

2007/06 Expedition to Undermountain (EU)

2007/06 Forge of War (FW)

2007/06 Sinister Spire (SiS)

2007/07 Monster Manual V (MM5)

2007/07 Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land (SSL)

2007/08 Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (ERG)

2007/09 Exemplars of Evil (EE)

2007/09 Fortress of the Yuan-Ti (FY)

2007/09 Grand History of the Realms (GHR)

2007/10 Dragons of Eberron (DE)

2007/10 Rules Compendium (RC)

2007/11 Anauroch: The Empire of Shade (An)

2007/12 Elder Evils (ElE)

2008/02 City of Stormreach

2008/03 An Adventurer's Guide to Eberron

2012/08 Dungeon Master's Guide (premium edition) (DMG)

2012/08 Monster Manual (premium edition) (MM)

2012/08 Player's Handbook (premium edition) (PH)

2013/04 Spell Compendium (premium edition) (SpC)

2013/07 Magic Item Compendium (premium edition) (MIC)

Dragonlance Campaign Setting is a d20 product published by Wizards of the Coast.

Dragon Compendium Volume 1 is a d20 product published by Paizo yet officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast. Paizo makes available errata.

THIS is an amazing answer great work on this!
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Ben-JaminMay 1 '14 at 15:46

@Ben-Jamin Thanks. I'd been hunting for a list like this for a while and out of frustration I made it myself--if a list this legible and complete exists independently elsewhere I'm happy to change the answer to a link, but I couldn't find one. Also, I fully expect some of these dates to be wrong as instead of using the actual source I used Amazon.com for publication information (I don't actually own Eberron Player Character Sheets, for example, nor does anyone I know). I hope that other users will correct inaccuracies.
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Hey I Can ChanMay 1 '14 at 16:46

@HeyICanChan I... am reasonably sure I actually have that one at home. Got it when I inherited a bunch of Eberron stuff from an old DM; no idea where he got it. I'll check when I get home. Any others you'd like checked? Also, is it worthwhile to put Book of Vile Darkness, Savage Species, and other "3.25" books in a separate section, or note them somehow?
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KRyanMay 1 '14 at 22:58

@KRyan I think most major releases (i.e. hardbacks) are accurate, but double-checking minor releases--especially short adventures--would be great. I don't think it's necessary, but you can totally add a note to transitional texts if you think that's important.
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Hey I Can ChanMay 1 '14 at 23:22

In addition to all the other answers, which are quite accurate, you can also tell from looking at classes or characters. If they have skills like Intuit Direction, Innuendo, Animal Handling, Wilderness Lore, or a single Perform skill, it's a 3.0 book. If it instead has Slight of Hand, Survival, and Perform (type) skills, it's a 3.5 book.

For third party material, which often doesn't specify clearly which version of the SRD it's based on, this can be a more useful way.

I was going to say the same. Look for Scry or Alchemy as skills lol. Big tip-off, and it's what I hit first.
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LitheOhmSep 11 '12 at 3:19

1

My usual tactic is to look for something that has damage reduction. In 3.0, it's specified as two numbers: X/+Y, where Y is the enhancement bonus needed to overcome the DR. In 3.5, DR is a number and a word: X/condition, where condition describes something about the attack that determined whether or not it overcomes damage reduction.
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The SpooniestMay 1 '14 at 3:43

There are several databases out there which will tell you such things (besides Googling in general or checking Amazon).

RPG.net has a searchable index of most any RPG product ever. Search it for "Complete Warrior" and it says "Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (2003 Hardcover)" in the search results even.

RPG Geek (a variant site off BoardGameGeek) also has a huge searchable index. Searching that for "Complete Warrior" gets a search result that says "Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 Edition) - d20 System" concisely in its search results.

Between these two, no RPG product question ever needs to go unanswered.

If you put "Sword and Fist" into the search box, it gives you this result. Notice that it lists the game and the edition in a hierarchy above the title of the book in the search result (as well as on the book's page if you click through). Sword and Fist happens to be for "3rd Edition". Similarly, the search result for Complete Warrior lists it under "3.5 Edition".

This will work for any D&D book you have. If there were two versions of a book, one for 3 and one for 3.5, then you should be able to tell which one you have by comparing it to the book covers in the database.

It's 3.0. 3.5 has been released in 2003, so it's likely that anything you have is 3.0. In any case, the differences between 3.0 and 3.5 are minimal. Yes, there are some, but porting anything 3.0 to 3.5 is generally a minor issue.